Tuesday, February 21, 2017

The Washington Post reports that the self-described “provocateur” was one of the most popular writers on the far-right website that was for years run by current White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon. Organizers of this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference rescinded their booking of Yiannopoulos on Monday, following an outcry after his critics resurfaced videos of him criticizing age-of-consent laws and joking about a teenage sexual encounter he had with a Catholic priest. (You know you're a complete disgrace when Julian Assange comes to your defense with a bogus "censorship" argument, like anyone is stopping Milo from self-publishing his brand of hate.)

I think it's fitting that he would lose his livelihood over what I believe to be the least offensive thing he's ever said. While Trump's followers -- who have brought about this onslaught of anti-Semitic violence and hate -- loved every minute of Milo's vitriol aimed at liberals, gays, Jews, foreigners, Democrats and so many others, his comments about gay teenage boys sometimes having "consensual" sex with adults were indeed poorly articulated and poorly thought out -- just because he doesn't feel like he was victimized certainly doesn't mean others don't -- but hardly the ringing endorsement of pedophilia they have been made out to be. (He's 100% right that pedophilia is adults being sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children, not teenagers who are capable of procreating.)

In a statement, the Queen of Dishing It Out But Not Being Able to Take It said:

“Breitbart News has stood by me when others caved. They have allowed me to carry conservative and libertarian ideas to communities that would otherwise never have heard them. They have been a significant factor in my success. I’m grateful for that freedom and for the friendships I forged there. I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues' important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately. This decision is mine alone."